BALTIMORE (WJZ)—A pit bull tears the leg of a 5-year-old boy. Now the fate of the dog hangs in the balance after an unusually detailed vicious dog hearing.

Adam May reports how the owner is trying to save his dog.

Butta the dog– also known as Chopper– sits on the equivalent of death row for dogs.

Last month, 5-year-old Khalil Willis says the pit bull attacked him, leaving him with more than 100 stitches.

“The dog bit me on my leg,” Willis said.

But now the 5-year-old says he’s feeling good.

The boy’s family and the dog’s owner went face-to-face at a hearing that will decide if the dog will be euthanized.

“The dog is really aggressive,” said Kenyetta Willis, victim’s mom. “We would not like the dog in the area; so of course, we want the dog put down.”

Witnesses say the dog escaped through a rickety fence. But the owner says neighborhood children used to stand in the alley, tormenting and teasing his dog.

“I will say to the child first I feel terribly bad about what happened to him,” said Issac Douglass, dog owner. “But my dog . . . just make sure they have the right dog.”

Douglass says he is not convinced his dog is responsible for the attack.

“I know it’s not,” he said.

Since the dog was seized, Animal Control says testing reveals a mean temperament. At the hearing, the owner admitted his dog hunted rats and tore into a punching bag left in the backyard—troubling behavior according to dog expert Joy Freedman.

“The punching bag was dark on the bottom, light on top,” Freedman said. “And the clothes the victim was wearing was dark on bottom, light on top.”

The punching bag was also the same size as Khalil, who fears seeing Butta again.

More than a dozen other dogs accused of biting people are also in quarantine at the city animal shelter.